Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Alabama

Change Region

comments

Despite weather, special election for Mobile House seat still on; turnout effect expected

Wilcox-Carr

Republican Margie Wilcox, left, faces off against Democrat Stephen Carr on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in a special election in Alabama House of Representatives District 104. Both candidates have expressed concern about the impact of expected snow and ice on Election Day, but officials said the balloting will go on as scheduled.

MOBILE, Alabama – Winter weather expected Tuesday will add another wrinkle to a special election that already has seen unusual developments centered on the timing of a contest for a vacant seat in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Republican Margie Wilcox squares off against Democrat Stephen Carr for a seat that has been empty since August, when Republican Rep. Jim Barton resigned to take a lobbying job in Montgomery.

The timing of the resignation prompted the oddity of a GOP runoff the week after Thanksgiving, and now snow and ice could cause problems for voters and election officials, alike. But Kim Tillman, the elections coordinator for the Mobile County Probate Office, said there are no plans to postpone the election.

“We are monitoring the weather very closely, but we are proceeding as planned,” she said.

Tillman said she does not believe her office even has the authority to cancel an election. She said that decision would have to come from the governor’s office and the Secretary of State’s Office. State election officials did not return calls Monday for comment.

Both candidates expressed concerns Monday but said they are preparing for Election Day.

“I’m very much concerned for the safety of the voters,” said Wilcox, who stopped short of calling for a postponement. “I’ve already told my campaign workers that it’s not worth it to get sick staying out there all day.”

Wilcox, who owns a medical transportation business in Florida, said she was working with customers to reschedule Tuesday appointments. She said she also was evaluating whether to pull drivers off of the road for her other business, Yellow Cab of Mobile.

“The weather is not only affecting the election but my transportation companies all over,” she said.

Carr said he does not anticipate a delay in voting “unless it’s just an absolute worst-case scenario.”

Both candidates said volunteers are offering to help voters get to the polls, and Carr said he is suggesting people take neighbors with them.

“We’re just planning to move forward,” he said, adding that he was concerned about how the closure of schools would affect polling places that use the buildings. “Obviously, turnout is going to affected.”

Tillman, the Mobile County elections official, acknowledged that bad weather could keep voters away from the polls. “We were not anticipating a huge turnout, anyway,” she said.

Tillman added that the vote-counting procedure will be the same as always: Election workers at each of the 15 polling places will drive cartridges form the voting machines to the Tillman’s Corner Community Center, where election officials will set up shop. Probate staff will tabulate the results there.

“The counting station is located in the best-possible centrally located position,” she said.

If election workers at one of the precincts get stuck, she said, officials could send sheriff’s deputies to retrieve the ballots.